Councillors approve bylaws to regulate city centre busking

Galway City Tribune – The Mayor fears the new bylaws restricting busking in the city centre could damage Galway’s reputation.

Cllr Mike Cubbard said he wasn’t doubting the motivation behind the proponents of the bylaws, but the by-product could be reputational damage of Galway as a city of culture, and artists.

“My fear would be that it would damage that image of the city,” he said during this week’s City Council debate about the new restrictions.

Cllr Peter Keane (FF), who drafted the bylaws, said there was a misconception that the bylaws were “anti-busking”.

“There’s a perception out there that ‘they’re trying to get rid of busking’. Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.

Cllr Keane said the bylaws try to strike a balance between the rights of businesses and workers to operate in the city centre without incessant noise, and the rights of buskers, who could continue to operate outside of the protected streetscape and after 6pm. Some retailers had complained of the same three songs being played excessively noisily on loop by buskers for hours on end.

Cllr Frank Fahy (FG) questioned who would enforce the bylaws. “We have a crazy situation whereby the bylaws on drinking in public places are not enforced,” he said.

Director of Services, Dermot Mahon, said that there was no additional money to hire extra staff and enforcement would be a matter for Gardaí and the existing community wardens.
This is a preview only. To read the rest of this article, see this week’s Galway City Tribune. Buy a digital edition of this week’s paper here, or download the app for Android or iPhone.